Now we get to what truly first got me into Godzilla: the Trendmasters toys from the mid-90's.

These toys meant a lot to me as a kid, and I still have all of them. As an adult, I've discovered that these toys have as much an identity as the designs from the movies. This was before the '98 fiasco, and Trendmasters was able to slip by with their own designs. And even though they're not by any means a definitive representation of the characters, they have an identity of their own. Pretty much every Godzilla toy these days will always have to be a specific design. But these? They were their own thing. I say without bias that these really do have a place in Godzilla history because of their designs, beyond being merchandise.

---

Anywho, a slight review of the toy, it is the epitome of the 90's, being EXTREME with a bad attitude. The toy sorta has this "hey, you talkin' to me, bucko?!" look to it, which makes him pretty ferocious looking. For the drawing here, I sorta went for a "do I need to choke a bitch!?" pose. All I really left out was a cinder block for him to prop his foot on.

The reason that there are two different color schemes (which goes for ALL these drawings) is that the left one is the standard color scheme, and the right one is a recolor variant, either from the 40th Anniversary "repaint" set or the unreleased Doom Island series. Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah did pose a problem with this set-up, but I'll get to that...well, when I get to them. :P

This was originally just going to be a standalone piece. But then comments flooded in, and coupled with how much fun I had drawing this, I HAD to do the rest of the characters, focusing on what made the toy designs so popular and iconic. I've been making trading cards of them specifically for G-Fest (starting last year). Quite fitting, seeing how the toys themselves came with a collector card.